ComedK Medical Entrance Give Preference To English

The Comed-K (Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka) has hereby announced that the Medical exam shall pay attention towards English Language Skills of Applicants which shall come into effect from this academic year onwards.

This decision made by Comed-K baord has taken the stake holders by surprise. Moreover, several college lecturers and students mainly from Rural areas are criticizing this decision.

An official from Comed-K said "The English paper, which will be included for the first time this year, will test the English Language skills of the candidates by introducing exercises in Grammar and Comprehension passage."

While the students from urban areas are excited to have English as one paper, it has turned out to be the disadvantageous part for those in rural areas.

The notification from Comed-K says 'As the course in medicine is relatively of higher professional standard and based on the past experience and in difference to the wishes of the member institutions, Comed-K has decided to incorporate English as one of the papers'.

It also briefed out about the marks allotted to the English Paper. It said 'English paper carries 30 marks and would test the candidates comprehension of the language besides grammar. A candidate has to compulsorily secure 50% in the English paper to become eligible for a rank'.

"This is a Negative Move" says the President of the Karnataka State PU College Lecturer's Association Mr.Thimmaiah Purle.

"This is a huge problem for many students as it will deny them the option of getting seats through the Comed-K quota. Already there is a huge competition to get seats through the Government quota offered by KEA, and if students cannot even get Comed-K seats only because of not being good at English is not encouraged. Where will such students go?"

Another lecturer, Jyanna.M from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Pre-University College, Anekal is also worried that this rule shall affect many of his students as well. He said "Out of my class of 60 candidates, only 10 are fluent in English. This does not mean that they cannot do well in Medicine".

GT Sunhas, Professor of Neurology, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute said that having English as a paper was not necessary. He said "I feel that, there is a need for students to be well versed with their local language. If students are not strong in English, we can provide special coaching to them. Or, the paper will prove to be disadvantageous for rural students."

However, Former Vice-Chancellor of RGUHS (Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences) S. Chandrashekar Shetty said "As medicine is a Difficult course, it could be a burden if students do not know English. It is absolutely fine if English is introduced for Eligibility Criteria but cannot be used for ranking purposes"

Responding to all the opposes raised against this notification, Chief Executive of Comed-K A.A.Srinath said "Out of 100 students who appear for Comed-K exam, only four are from rural areas. In fact, students who want to pursue medicine need to be well versed in English as the course work is taught in English".

What do you think about this rule? Is it right to make English Language a compulsory language for Medical courses? Then what is the importance given to Rural Students here?Are they underestimated? Share your views regarding this issue.